Published March 31, 2011

Vioxx can kill you months after you stop taking it

Back in 2004, the drug company Merck took its painkiller rofecoxib off the market. You know it as Vioxx. They took Vioxx off the market after studies showed that it substantially increased the risk of heart disease and death in those taking it. Now a new study shows that even after people stopped taking Vioxx, they were still at risk. In fact, they had twice the risk of having blood clots or dying for the next six months.

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Published March 30, 2011

When high blood pressure increases your risk of cancer

If you take drugs for high blood pressure, you probably already know that they increase your risk for sexual problems, kidney problems, and dizziness. But now a popular class of hypertension drugs called angiotensin-receptor blockers may cause an even bigger problem. New research suggests they can cause prostate, breast, and lung cancers.

The authors of the study said the increased risk is small, about 1%. But consider the millions of people worldwide taking them. And I predict this number will increase significantly in the coming years. Could the next case of cancer be you?

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Published March 25, 2011

The wrong way to find prostate cancer

As you may know, I’m really down on the PSA test. I debunked the PSA as a marker for prostate cancer years before medical science did. Yes, it’s great for detecting inflammation. But not for cancer. Some doctors still consider the PSA’s “rate of rise” a better detector of cancer than just one score. But is it?

The “rate of rise” works like this: Say your PSA is 1.0 this year and 1.1 the next year. Your doctor won’t think much about it. But if it goes to 2.0 the next year? That when your urologist wants you in his office quickly for a dangerous and largely useless biopsy.

Researchers recently studied the rate of rise as a predictor. And what they found is not too good!

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